Steve Pleich: String of failures in 'Santa Cruz 11' case

This Monday morning in our Superior Court, the trial of the four remaining defendants in the "Santa Cruz 11" case will finally commence after more than two years of legal wrangling and incalculable expense.

While it is important to note that only four defendants remain and that those defendants are facing charges substantially reduced from those for which they were originally charged, that is not the most notable aspect of this case. What is notable is that regardless of the outcome, we as a community will not be healed nor will justice truly be restored in any real sense. Because rather that working together during these past two years, we have each pursued a course that has steered us away from the kind of restorative justice this case could have provided for our community.

There has been much talk recently about how we might work together to create a true equilibrium between our system of justice and the community at large. But for that model to achieve success, it takes the leadership of everyone involved. And our leadership has failed.

Leadership should have come from our district attorney, whose wise policy and prosecutorial discretion could have restored respect for the property rights that lie at the heart of this case without the unacceptable burden that this one case has placed upon public funds.

Leadership should have come from Wells Fargo, whose role as a true community partner could have been strengthened by working with the district attorney to find a mutually beneficial means of achieving the restitution that continues to be a major stumbling block to a restorative settlement of this case.

Leadership should have come from the courts, which could have balanced its duty to find guilt or innocence with an understanding of the community's need to be heard and the assurance that justice is truly being done.

Leadership should have come from legal counsel, both individually and collectively, whose full throated and vigorous defense of their clients should not have precluded consideration of a disposition acceptable to both their clients and the community at large.

Leadership should have come from the defendants themselves. I have always believed that activism has consequences and in my life as an activist it has cost me dearly. Regardless of the decision that will ultimately be rendered by a jury, these four young people will remain members of our community. They will, each in their way, continue to contribute to the betterment of our community for it is the unshakeable and courageous belief in that which has brought them to the place they will occupy on Monday morning.

And finally, leadership should have come from the community itself. We could have used the opportunity presented by this case to begin a conversation that would have moved us one step closer to the restorative justice that so presently occupies our minds. It is a conversation that should have been sharpened and clarified by the dramatic events that will soon be played out publicly in the courtroom.

Yes, we have all contributed to the failure of justice in this instance. But the fact that justice may have eluded us does not make continuing to seek it out any less honorable.

Santa Cruz resident Steve Pleich is a member of the ACLU, Santa Cruz County.